


Victorian Novel Disease

by Lukas17



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Medical Examination, Multi, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 03:22:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13695819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukas17/pseuds/Lukas17
Summary: Written for the FFXV Valentines Day Exchange.The road to recovery goes over mountains, through lakes, and may have a pot hole or two. But Prompto knew he'd get there.





	Victorian Novel Disease

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Enya (crystallineAbyss)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystallineAbyss/gifts).



> Title inspired by the TvTropes page. Story inspired by a prompt on the kink meme.
> 
> I wish I had thought to make it more romantic, but I hope you like it despite that valentine!

Ringing, ringing, ringing. Why couldn’t he hear anything else? He couldn’t see, he needed to see. Yellows, browns, reds, greens. Ringing, ringing, ringing. Could he move his fingers, did he have fingers. Curl them move them, why couldn’t he feel them. One two three try again. Why couldn’t he see? Hot. Cold. He should be one of those things but he was nothing. Black. Black. White. Green. White hot pain. That wasn’t hot or cold. Numbness, numb. Stop. Start. Breath in and cough. Red red red. Ringing Ringing Ringing. Underwater. Bang bang bang. Muffled through the water. When was he under water. He wasn’t underwater. Ringing ringing Ringing.

What was happening to him?

Splash. He wasn’t underwater. “Put him on his back.” He could hear. Hearing hearing hearing. Ringing Ringing ringing. Pushed over. The sun hurt. White yellow white yellow.

White.

**Intake Assessment**  
_Patient sustained head injury during a training accident and began coughing up blood before passing out._

**Notes**  
_No injury in the mouth or throat. Head injury consistent with a minor concussion._

**Tests Order**  
_Chest X-ray_  
_Sputum smear microscopy_  
_TB skin test_

His chest hurt. His arms hurt. Everything hurt. White ceiling. White walls. Where was he? He knew where he was, but where was he?

“Looks like it’s only around the lungs.” Loud. Very loud. “We still need the smear to come back.”

“We’ll have to order two of the antibiotics in case it comes back positive. Clear out one of the isolation rooms.”

“Yes doctor.”

Pen scratched against paper. Scrubs rustled and the click of heels became more and more faint. He tried to prop his head up but couldn’t.

He blinked and time passed. The room was dark, but his vision more clear. In the corner of the room a nurse wearing scrubs, cap, face mask, and gloves checked a machine then wrote down. He opened his mouth to say something but all that came out was a horrible, painful cough that shook his sore body. The woman set a cup of water down on the side of his bed and rubbed his shoulder until it had abated.

“Mr. Argentum.” The woman said, “How are you feeling?”

His throat was sore, but he still managed to croak out, “Terrible.”

“Can you rate your pain? Rate the pain in your head.”

“Ten.”

“And the rest of your body?”

“Eight.”

The nurse shuffled a bite more. Then some pills came into vision. It was a struggle to swallow them both, but he did manage to get them down.

“I have a few questions about your symptoms. Have you been coughing a lot recently? Maybe within the month?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Yes he’d had a horrible cough the past few weeks and a bit of chest pain, but he had assumed that it all was from the chilly Tenebrae air.

“We’re running a few tests right now. Do you need anything before I leave?”

Prompto shook his head. If he had opened his mouth he would have requested a lethal amount of sleep aid, but that didn’t sound like something he could joke about in that moment. He made a grunt in the negative and the nurse left.

Sleep seemed like it would be hard to get to, but soon he felt himself drop into it. He woke up a few times, blinking awake again in the middle of the night once then sleep when his eyes closed. It wasn’t until late the next day that he woke up and was fully aware.

His head pounded and shrieked at him much like before. It made looking around the blank, white hospital room difficult. There was a shooting pain in his chest which was worse now then it had been in the past few weeks. He’d meant to schedule an appointment, but he supposed this was life’s way of telling him that he waited too long.

The silence still made him tired, and he lulled in and out of a light sleep until he heard the door open. A doctor came in, her face and arms covered, and sat down next to him on the chair when she noticed he was awake.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better.” He croaked.

“Do you remember why you’re here?”

“Got hit in the head.”

“Yes, well, that is true. You have a minor concussion, which is nothing to worry about and it’ll go away with proper rest. But you’re currently in isolation after coughing up bloody sputum. Have you noticed chest pain or a cough recently?”

“Yes.”

“You have tuberculosis.” She said bluntly. “The tests unfortunately came back positive, and your symptoms show that it is active. We’re waiting for the last of the antibiotics to come in so we can start treatment.”

“What’ll happen until then?”

“You’ll be isolated. We’ll keep you here for a few weeks until I feel you’re not contagious anymore. I’ve informed His and Her Majesty.”

“Did they say anything?”

“I was only able to contact their aides. As of right now I don’t know what they have planned.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“A nurse will check in and bring some entertainment soon.”

The doctor left as swiftly as she came leaving him alone in the quiet room with his thoughts. Two weeks. He thought the cough was nothing, it’d felt just like a really bad flu. Was anyone else sick? Who did he even get it from?

What about Noctis and Luna?

They were gone. Had left last week and weren’t scheduled to be back for several weeks between a summit and separate negotiations in Lucis and the northern part of the New Niflheim Republic. They were too busy to come back. Too busy to worry about him.

He shouldn’t want to see them, but here he was. Wishing they’d come back just for him.

A knock rapped on the door and a moment later a short, slim nurse slipped inside. She had her mouth covered to prevent infection and carried with her a small notebook and a pen.

“Hi Mr. Argentum.” Her voice was almost gratingly chipper and happy. It made him feel worse. “My name is Belle and I’ll be one of your nurses. Since you’ll be here for a while do you want me to grab you any entertainment from your rooms or order something? We can arrange for a TV to be brought in if you like?”

“TV would be great.” He said with some difficulty. He was sent into another spurt of coughing fits that ended with him doubled over as Belle rubbed his back. He coughed into a wad of gauze until it was damp and sticky with sputum and blood. The sight so disgusting he could barely look at it as Belle threw the wad away.

“You’ll be better soon.” She said. “Once the treatment starts tomorrow. “Did you want anything else?”

Belle was in and out during the day as she brought down a stack of books he’d meant to read, his laptop, a TV, and a game system with all of games he’d yet to finish, and some unappetizing cafeteria food. It was hard to churn up interest in any of them. His body was too tired to really move around or even focus on something for too long. He ended up reading a comic until he passed out twenty minutes later.

In the morning Belle and the doctor wheeled in a tray full of pills and a glass of water. They had him take all of them then let him spend the time to himself for an hour.

“One of the side effects is a loss of appetite.” She explained as she handed him the pills. “You might also feel nauseous and tired. If you feel anything else let us know alright?”

He figured he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter and nodded in agreement. For the first hour or so everything seemed fine. Then Belle wheeled in a bowl of light soup with vegetables.

Prompto tried to it eat, he really did. But the entire thing sat uncomfortably in his stomach. He barely made it to the bathroom to puke up what was mostly bloody liquid for ten minutes while Belle rubbed small circles into his back.

“It’s just for a few weeks. You can do this.” She said. “This is usual. Especially for the first few weeks. After about eight weeks we can back the dosage off, but you have to complete the treatment or you’ll just be worse off later.”

She helped him back to the bed and offered to spend some time with him before her shift was over. They chose a racing game until the fatigue caught up to him and he passed out with the controller still in his hands. She turned the TV off and left him alone until his next dose later that day.

“You might feel better taking it with some crackers.” A new nurse name Jacob said. He laid two different types of crackers out for him to chew on. The medication was the same as before, a large variety of pills that he had to split up lest he choke. “Her Majesty also called while you were asleep.”

“What she say?”

“She insisted several times to speak with you, but we had to decline. She then hung up.”

Prompto didn’t know how to feel about that, nor did he really have time to react. Soon the crackers were having knife fights inside his stomach and Jacob had put in an action flick in an attempt to distract him.

“We can’t give you anything for it. Antacids make the treatment less effective.” He warned. “You should get used to it soon.”

Every cough he let out was a risk. Either bloody sputum or puke. Sometimes both. Prompto tried to choke them down for as long as he could, but eventually his body won and he spat up blood on his sheets. It soaked through the top of the bedding and Jacob hurriedly stripped the sheets off before they got too far.

He needed a shower, but he refused Jacob’s help to take one. So he struggled under the stream and prayed that it would go smoothly.

It did. But just barely. Prompto stayed under the hot spray until his skin felt cauterized then changed into a soft pair of sleep pants before leaving back to the room.

Outside Jacob was waiting to make sure he didn’t spontaneously die in the bathroom. He took Prompto’s old clothes then helped him to the bed.

“Have you heard from Luna and Noct?” He asked. His throat was much clearer after the shower but he could feel sleep approaching and he wanted to take the chance to ask before he passed out again.

“As far as I know we haven’t. I know Her Majesty called earlier to speak with you while you were sleeping.”

“Yeah I heard about that.”

“I’ll call and let her know when your next dosage will be so she can call when you’re awake.”

“Hey, how is everyone anyway? Like I didn’t infect anyone else did I?”

“As far as I know we’ve found one or two people. But they’re showing no symptoms so it’s latent. But they might not have gotten it from you, and you might not have gotten it from anyone in particular. You can have latent TB your entire life and not know.”

“So everyone’s fine?”

“As far as I know. We’re still waiting on a few results though. I know that at least half of the castle was sectioned off and decontaminated. You shouldn’t worry about it though, it’s all been taken care of.” Jacob left soon after that to allow him to rest.

He was left alone again for the night. The loneliness suddenly, and aggressive, grating his confidence to powder. He was prepared to not see Luna and Noctis for at least a month, he shouldn’t be missing them so much. But now he was looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling and he had the biggest longing to just see them. He didn’t know how he would survive the next few weeks.

**Test Results**  
_AST 28 units/L_  
_AST is within normal range and not consistent with liver damage._

**Notes**  
_Patient shows normal reaction to medication side effects. AST results will be used as baseline. Concussion healing properly._

A week passed, then two, and three. There were eight weeks total for the initial treatment then eighteen weeks for the second round. It was pretty lonely with only his nurses for company but he was glad they were around to talk with. They gave him the occasional updates on Noctis and Luna, and the guards he’d been practicing with. A few people were infected but not showing symptoms which was a far better turn out then what was expected.

He was feeling fairly lonely when the first box arrived. A few of the guards had pooled their money together to get him a box of candy that he struggled to even look at. The bright packaging did a lot to lift his spirits.

Another box came, this one signed by Noctis but with a note from Ignis telling him to get better. Inside the box were some scented candles, which Ignis definitely picked out, and a jar of some ‘Amicitia all purpose cure’ that made him break out in hives. The candles smelled way too floral, but he lit them anyway to brighten up the room.

Every once in a while he’d get a short update from either Noctis or Luna’s groups that typically told him very little. What information they did put down often got redacted by some sort of party or another until half the page was nothing but black splotches.

After the war Niflheim eventually split up roughly into the smaller principalities that they originally had been before Niflheim decided to expand. The northern part was the only one open to really working with Lucis and Tenebrae, but they weren’t the most stable and half of Lucis wanted to suck every red gil out of them in reparations even though that would help no one. Luna had to piece together their government and Noctis had to make sure what was left of Lucis’ government didn’t prompt another war.

They were busy, he knew they would be busy. And it was probably better that they stayed busy. Old insecurities made it easier to imagine they were worried but away then for them to be around but not be concerned at all.

**Test Results**  
_AST 34 units/L_  
_AST is within normal range and not consistent with liver damage._

**Notes**  
_Concussion appears to be fully healed. Treatment is progressing properly. Recommend release after a week._

The bowl of broth and sliced fruit were still on his tray when Emily came in with his evening dosage. By now his untouched plates were a common occurrence that the nurses had all accepted with varying levels of reluctance. Emily didn’t even bother to comment as she gathered the dishes and he took his medicine.

“Sir.” She said. “We’ve just been informed that Her Majesty has left Niflheim.”

He painfully swallowed the pills. “Hmm?”

“Her Majesty. Her retainer messaged us to tell us they’d left Niflheim.”

“When’s she supposed to be here?”

“We don’t know. They didn’t give us any sort of ETA.”

“That sounds weird.”

“It does. I assume that because it was so sudden they want to avoid any other surprises or leaks. But I suppose that doesn’t matter. Would you like for me to wake you when she arrives?”

“Yes, just send her in.”

“We would, but visitation for isolation patients is only twenty minutes long.” She said. “The doctor said that you’ll probably be out of isolation in a few days though.”

Music to his ears. “Finally.”

“You handled it better than most.” She assured. “I had a man smash his head against the wall when two weeks in once. Don’t know how he got the energy.”

Emily’s stories were fun, but he’d heard this one before and felt himself slowly disengage from what she said. The medication sent him in his usual slumber, restless with the occasional night sweating, and the next morning Jacob came in with some plain toast that he forced himself to nibble at as he reread a romance novel Gladio sent.

There weren’t any clocks in the room, but he was able to keep track of the time using the main screen of his game system. Every so often he’d check it like a kid waiting for Christmas to come. Jacob came by with the noon dose with no news as did Emily later that evening therefore concluding what had to be the longest, most boring day of his life.

He fell asleep after checking the time at ten o’ three, and woke up with the screen blaring twelve-fifteen as Belle gently shook him.

“Her Majesty arrived.” She whispered when his head slowly lifted from the pillows. “Would you like to see her?”

His first thought was no. He was hyper aware of his exhaustion and griminess, and everything around him probably smelled like his sick. The last time he caught sight of himself in the mirror he looked pale and had lost a notable amount of weight.“Yeah I’m ready.”

He tried to sit up to give the illusion of recovery, but that almost seeped out of him entirely when he saw her face, wrapped in a mask and body covered in a dressing gown and gloves. Luna practically ran to his side, arms wrapped around his torso in a fierce, almost suffocating, hug.

“Prompto! I was so worried about you.” She said, voice breaking. She pushed his face into her shoulder and rested her chin on his head. “I tried to come back sooner I really did.”

“Luna, Luna it’s fine.” He patted the arm wrapped around his waist. “I’m glad you’re here now.”

“If I had known it was this bad I wouldn’t have gone.” She sobbed. Prompto could feel his heart breaking as he felt her body shake.

He almost felt like crying too. It had been so long since he’d been able to really touch anyone. All three of them had been busy in the weeks leading up to their leaving and since arriving he’d only been poked at to check inflammation and stuck with needles. They made up for lost time. Spent the few twenty minutes they had holding one another, Luna too tearful to speak and Prompto too tired to fill up the silence.

Emily gently lead Luna away and Prompto, bone tired, collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep.

Twelve hours later Luna was back, this time much calmer behind the plastic mask and gown. “Oh Prompto.” She cupped his face in both her gloved hands and rubbed her thumbs over his sunken cheeks. “I can’t believe this happened.”

“I’m getting better Luna.” His hands rested gently over her hips. “It’ll be okay.”

“I can’t tell you how terrible it was to get that call.” Her fingers carded through his hair. “I wanted to come back straight away, but they practically barred me in. Ignis called and said Noctis had to practically be tied down to keep him from warping out. I had to talk to him to call him down.”

“You were able to call one another?”

“Yes, barely. We needed to communicate to organize how we’d handle each side, but we couldn’t look like we were doing that so we had to call at odd hours.”

He chuckled. “I thought you two forgot about me.”

“Prompto! Don’t even joke about that.” She chastised. “You motivated me. Took half the time. Half of my staff passed out on the car ride back.”

“I’m flattered.” Luna wrapped her arms around his shoulders. They probably had only a few minutes left before she had to leave. “Did they test you?”

“Yes. Noct and I both are fine. Shockingly enough.”

“Well you two weren’t spending a lot of time in the room. Those busy nights saved you.”

“At least they were good for something. Some of the staff have missed you, came and asked my secretary how you were.”

“It sounds like a lot of people are missing me.”

“Don’t look so surprised. You’re always like this, never giving yourself any credit.” She sighed.

**Test Results**  
_AST 35 units/L_  
_AST is within normal range and not consistent with liver damage._

**Notes**  
_Patient has lost twenty pounds due to loss of appetite. Weight is to be monitored, no immediate action is to be taken._

Luna made it a commitment to be there when she could visit again. It soon became a moot point when the doctor decided he wasn’t contagious anymore and he was released.

Prompto collapsed onto the bed they shared and almost fell the second his head hit the mattress. He woke up later when Luna slipped into the bed and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Mm, what time is it?”

“About one.”

“Hmmm. When’s Noct supposed to be back?”

“Don’t know. He’s been having trouble getting everyone to agree. Everyone wants Niflheim to pay some way or another.”

“Understandable.”

“But not helpful. It’s a big mess, and he’s probably making it worse trying to cut corners and get back sooner.”

“Good ol’ Noct.”

She laid with him a few hours, but sitting around made him feel restless so later that evening, after he managed to choke down a dinner roll and some broth, he and Luna went on a walk around the gardens. It was a surprisingly difficult experience. The weather still hadn’t made the transition from snowy wonderland and the air stung his lungs. Once he started coughing Luna rushed him inside into several layers of clothes.

Two weeks and much of the same. An embarrassing rash had started on his shoulder and spread down part of his back. They prescribed some benadryl and he had to set up a reminder to take it before his normal medication. He ate what he could and slept when he was alone.

Ignis called twice for Noctis in those weeks during short breaks they had. The first was only five minutes long before he had to drop the phone to deal with something. The second came a week later.

“How are you doing Prompto?” Ignis sounded much more calm then he had a week ago.

“I’m doing fine. How’s Lucis been?”

“Dreadful. The entire proceedings have almost turned into an outright brawl on several occasions. We’re all at our wits end. But that’s politics. Last we heard you were in the hospital?”

“I was. Got out a week or so ago.”

“What was wrong? They couldn’t tell us anything over the phone.”

“Tuberculosis.”

“How did you get that?” Ignis sounded honestly surprised.

“Dunno. They said that you can have it for a long time and not get symptoms so I haven’t worried about it too much. I’ll just be on antibiotics for a few months.”

“Months? That’s terrible. But it’s good to know that everything’s already. We’ve been trying to speed the process up, but Noctis has been making that difficult.”

“What’s he been doing?”

“He’s just been short tempered and irritable. Which other people have picked up on and it’s caused a few rifts. The usual politics. Listen I have to go we have a meeting in five, I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”

“Alright, bye Iggy.” A click and Ignis was off the line. Prompto reached out from under the covers and set the phone back in it’s cradle. Behind him Luna reached over and ran her fingers over his ribs.

“I didn’t know it would be a few months.” She whispered.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

“You’ve lost a lot of weight Prompto.”

“I know.”

“I’m worried how Noctis will take it.”

“Nothin’ I can do about it.”

“I suppose not.” She sighed, “Just focus on getting better okay. Don’t let him stress you out.”

He laughed, “Sounds like you’re stressed out enough for the both of us Lu.”

“Maybe.”

Luna started trying to goad him into eating. She’d wake up early to bring doughnuts and smoothies and come during lunches to coerce him to eat something. It didn’t really work, more often than not his stomach did not play the game and he felt sick, but he appreciated it in a weird way. Luna liked to feel like she was helping, and the attention was pretty nice.

**Test Results**  
_AST 42 units/L_  
_AST is above normal range and consistent with liver damage._

**Notes**  
_Weight loss continues, will consult a nutritionist for second opinions._

They got a call that Noctis was leaving Insomnia early one particularly bad morning. He’d forgotten to take his benadryl and a thick rash covered his arm while none of the food served seemed to appeal to his failing appetite. His body felt numb and his fingers kept tingling. If not for Luna he would have ignored the problem entirely, but another trip to the infirmary and he was recommended another supplement and a revised dietary plan with some high calorie protein bars thrown in to try and help him.

It was a terrible day for Noctis to come back, and Prompto almost dreaded it. He poked at his pale, dry skin and his visible ribs and wondered what would happen. It was a dumb thought, but the side effects dug at every little piece of insecurity he’d ever had. Thoughts of the worst, of Luna and Noctis leaving him or of the treatment just not working, sometimes hit him hard. But this wasn’t his first fight against those thoughts. It was just another thing he had to take one day at a time.

No other phone calls came so there was no time of arrival. He and Luna spent the day together waiting but not saying so in words. They took a walk where he took some pictures then lazed around the rest of the day. After dinner they chose a couple of movies to watch as they laid on the couch with Luna resting on top of him with her head pillowed on his shoulder as they both tried to stay awake. Noctis arrived after the second movie and Luna jerked awake when she heard the turn of the doorknob which jarred Prompto from his rest. She pulled her arm from under his body and held it up for Noctis to see.

“Hi Noct.” She sleepily sang.

He could hear the slide of cloth as Noctis peeled off his jacket. “Where’s Prompto?”

“Here.” He said. His voice came out ragged despite himself. He almost held his breath as Noctis walked over.

“Hey Prom.” Noctis said. His voice almost hesitant as he looked over the couch. Prompto could see the exact points Noctis registered his thin appearance. He looked hurt, worried, nervous as he reached down and ran his hand through Prompto’s dry hair. “How ya feeling?”

“Fine as I can. Glad you’re back.”

“The doctor said that everything’s going as planned.” Luna said. “We just gotta take care of him.”

That seemed to relieve Noctis and Prompto felt calm enough to let out a small laugh. With Noctis back he was free to collapse into bed. Luna rolled in with him and pulled his head onto her shoulder then Noctis joined them a few minutes later, slipping in on the other side and wrapped his arms around his waist.

It was comforting to finally be together again. Like he was finally getting help carrying weight he didn’t know he was carrying.

Phase one was coming to a close and his liver function wasn’t great. It wasn’t so bad he got kicked off the meds, but it was just another thing to worry about. The doctor called him late one weekend morning to deliver the news and his voice had to have woken Noctis up because halfway through Noctis wandered from the room and sat besides him on the couch. By the time he hung up Noctis had taken his other hand in both his and was rubbing the top of his hand with his thumb.

“Sounded bad.” He said quietly. Prompto could already hear the wheels turning and he struggled to find the words to make them stop.

“It’s not that bad.” He almost thought to lie and leave it at those four words, but if something did go wrong lying would only make it worse. “My liver’s just freaking out a little bit. But it’s fine.”

“It doesn’t sound fine.” He pushed. “Is there something they could do?”

“Noct I just gotta get through the medicine.”

“How long’ll that be?”

“I have another week of this round then eighteen weeks of the next round.”

“Eighteen weeks?” Noctis was close to panicking. He reached over Prompto’s shoulder for the phone. “We need to call her back.”

Prompto weakly grabbed Noctis’ hand. “Noct come on! Don’t bother her!”

“It’s her job.” Noctis grabbed the phone and tried to pull his wrist from Prompto’s grasp. “We should ask her if it can get worse.”

“Of course it can get worse! Noct!” Prompto used what little strength he had to pull Noctis’s hands close to his chest. “Noct, please don’t be like this.”

It hurt Prompto to say it more then it likely hurt Noctis to hear it. “Be like what?”

“Like this. You’re so worried and it rubs off on me and I can’t handle it Noct. I can’t. I can’t handle keeping you calm and dealing with this at the same time.”

Noctis bit his lip. His eyes went shiny with tears ready to fall. “Prom I just want to make sure.”

“Noct, she’s good. She wouldn’t be here if she weren’t. It’s just going to take time okay?”

Noctis didn’t say whether he disagreed or not, but he dropped the phone and burst into tears on Prompto’s shoulder. Tears pricked at his eyes, but Prompto didn’t let them fall. He wasn’t scared of what would happen, just of how it would hurt Noctis. Watching Noctis break like that, over his illness, was terrifying.

Later that day Noctis seemed to have somewhat recovered. He still flitted around the living area like a jittery ghost too scared to really look at Prompto’s sunken cheeks or thin arms, but it was enough for the moment.

Three days was all they got before Gladio and Ignis wanted to catch up. Luna originally suggested taking a walk around the garden, but Prompto hadn’t seen outside the manor in almost two months and he pushed until they agreed on a small restaurant near downtown.

The downtown area was well on its way to being rebuilt. All of the rubble had been cleared and construction was underway for a variety of stores. It wasn’t the original downtown area, but the first area cleared that wasn’t needed to house people, so land was being bought and built upon instead. Sitting in the middle of La Chat made him almost feel like it was the years before the war and they were all sitting around before the wedding bonding.

“Damn you really are sick.” Gladio said the second he saw him. Prompto tried not to curl in on himself as Gladio stepped back to get a better look. “Jeez, I feel bad leaving now.”

“I was fine Gladio.” He protested.

“Don’t look fine. Did you wait to go to the hospital?”

“No!” Yes. “This is just side effects.”

“Prompto’s recovering fine.” Luna stepped in to say. She scooted her chair so Gladio could sit in next to her. Ignis was polite enough to not comment on Prompto’s condition, but he did give a concerned look as he took the last seat.

Luna seemed prepared to play mediator, but time had calmed them all and the topic remained in the air but unspoken. Life was busy and there was more going on then an illness he had long since started to recover from. Ignis quickly began shared stories from their time in Lucis most of which were fairly funny. A late night, three hour meeting transformed into fight over the best type of dumplings which Ignis admitted to instigating with a politician from outside the wall. Gladio, despite Noctis’ protests, talked about the fight Noctis had with an old cousin that lasted six days and ended with a chewed dog bone getting sent to the cousin’s mail box. Finally the story of how the lights went out during one evening and Iris ended up punching a half-drunk senator while it was dark.

After dinner Gladio went off to find the bathroom while Noctis and Luna fought near the dessert case over which pie to buy. Ignis wrapped an arm around his shoulders and leaned in to talk to him.

“How have you been doing Prompto. Have you been feeling well all things considered?”

He shrugged, “As well as I can. You know how it is.”

“Unfortunately I do. In that case would you be amenable to meeting once a week? I’ve heard that recovery can be helped by socializing.”

Honestly Prompto could hug Ignis he was so happy to hear that.“Sure.”

“Glad to hear it.”

The evening had been exhausting but it managed to lift his spirits up and he went to bed that evening feeling refreshed.

**Test Results**  
_AST 44 units/L_  
_AST is above normal range and consistent with liver damage._

**Notes**  
_Patient will begin the second phase of tuberculosis treatment._

He had a check up with the doctor early in the morning to take his last dose. She took some blood and adjusted the doses a bit with the hope that the new regime would be helpful. It was, but only in small ways. A few days later he could eat a bit more, sleep a bit less, but he still didn’t feel normal. He sometimes looked out the window at the people walking around in the sun and wished he had the energy to spend all day outside in the slowly warming days.

Sometimes he’d feel Noctis’ hand rub over his ribs when they were both supposed to be asleep. They’d go up the sides counting his ribs. One, two, three. Then down to his boney hips. Luna would rub her hands down his protruding spine when he wrapped his arms around her waist. He felt the worry and the fear seep from them expressed silently in the only way they knew how. They probably talked about it when he wasn’t around. He hoped it helped.

Ignis made good on his promise. He had arranged for some space in the kitchens to be cleared for them to use for a few hours. It was a thoughtful idea. Prompto didn’t always feel up to wandering too far and he was still struggling to make the minimum calories his doctor had suggested. They met in his office which was right next to Noctis’ who was asleep under the desk if the snoring was anything to go by.

Prompto thumbed through a large selection of cook books Ignis had in his office as Ignis finished off a memo and woke Noctis up. There were plenty of serviceable ones with interesting recipes, but what truly caught his attention was an old, ratty book from an old, Lucian dieting company. Ignis was not a man who believed in dieting so he immediately pulled that out and flipped through several horrific looking recipes.

“Prompto have you decided on a dish?” Ignis asked. He stopped short, however, when he heard Prompto’s laugh. “What are you doing?”

“Can we make some worsteshire apples Iggy?”

“Oh hell, you found that book? We’re not doing that pick another one.”

“Come on Iggy! We could try and convince Noct to eat it~”

Prompto thought Ignis might chastise him, but instead a corner of his lips lifted up. “Pick another one for us, we can make two today.”

He found a chocolate mousse recipe near the back of a fancy cookbook. It had a load of ingredients that would probably get Ignis’ approval so he brought them both down to the kitchen and they got to work. The mousse was fairly standard. He’d made it before so he and Ignis were allowed to chat as the chocolate melted and the cream heated. Ignis left him to finish off dividing them up into individual ramekins as he fished out apples.

“We need this to look appetizing.” Ignis began peeling and coring the apples. “If we add cornstarch to the sauce it’ll look more like syrup.”

Prompto snickered. “I can’t believe we’re going to feed this to Noct.”

“It’ll loosen him up a bit. Things have been going smoothly as all these agreements and ratifications are now complete, but he’s still bumping heads with some old family in Lucis.”

“I heard him muttering about that. Sounded personal.”

“It very much is.”

Prompto poured the worcestershire, sugar, water, and salt into a pan and began cooking it down. “He doesn’t talk about it much.”

“He’s tried not to say too much out of respect for family. But some of his still living, extended family believe that Noctis was too soft on the territories that once made up the Niflheim Empire.”

“How so?”

“Not taxing enough for the most part. Typical politics.” He dumped the apples into the sauce. “Though this is rather depressing talk what’s supposed to be a break from our work.”

“M’not working much these days.”

“You have more important things to worry about.”

“I’m fine Ignis.”

“I know you’re fine. But you’ll have to forgive me for worrying anyway.”

“Awww, you’re worried?” He teased.

“Of course I was.” Ignis replied sincerely, “We all were. It was stressful to be in Lucis and not know what was happening up here.”

Prompto felt his stomach flutter from the confession. He wasn’t expecting such an honest reply.

“They certainly smell ready.” Ignis chuckled a bit, “Maybe get some ice cream to mask the smell.”

Ignis scooped up a large ball of ice cream and served it next to two apple halves. The presentation and cold, sweet smell made the plate almost seem like an innocent gift.

Prompto carefully carried it to Noctis’ office. The door was open and Noctis was actually bent over something doing his work. Ignis slipped into his own office, but Prompto would bet money that he had his ear to the door waiting for the fallout of their little prank.

“Hey pal.” He said. His voice sounded too forceful to his ears, but Noctis didn’t register it as he looked up from his paper.

“Hey, you been cookin’?”

“Yup. Wanted you to try it.” He stepped across the office and set it on the edge of Noctis’ desk.

Noctis slouched in his seat, the tension flowing out of his body with a sigh as he reached for the dish. “Yessssss.” He paused, “Ignis helped you with this right?”

“Yup! He did most of the work.” Prompto tried not to let the anticipation show, “That and chocolate mousse.”

“Perfect. I think he’s lifted the ban on junk food.” He took a big bite of the apple. “When we were in Lucis he - Mh!”

Noctis’ face twisted into the image of profound horror and disgust. His cheeks sucked in and his throat bobbed as he tried to decide between puking and swallowing.

Prompto immediately laughed so hard he nearly collapsed.

“Oh fuck - Prompto!” Noctis hurriedly dived over his desk to spit the raw apple into the trash. He coughed and spat until the worst of the flavor was out of his mouth. “What was that?”

“Ignis’ newest recipeh!” Prompto said through giggles.

In the other room Ignis let out a loud, offended squeak that they both could hear and Prompto felt the laughter hit him that much harder.

“Seriously Prompto what was that! Did you poison me?”

Prompto couldn’t answer. Every time he opened his mouth laughter was the only thing that came out. It was made only worse at the glare Noctis gave him as he dumped the food in his trash.

“I’m never trusting you again, do you hear me?”

Prompto wiped the tears from his eyes, “Then you don’t want chocolate mousse tonight?”

“No. Fucking hell Prom.”

“Awww.” Prompto made a little heart with his hands and then pulled the two halves apart. It was either that or his little pout that made Noctis’ face crack into a grin.

“I feel like you need a job to do if you have the energy to prank me.”

“My job is to prank you.”

“No, it’s not.” Noctis walked over and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “You should prank other people, people I target. Pranking your king is treason.”

He snorted “When do I face the tribunal?”

“I hate you.” Noctis rested his chin on top of Prompto’s hair. “I’m gonna find something for you to do, something away from Ignis. I can’t believe he, of all people, is now a bad influence.”

Prompto thought all of that was a bluff, and he had no reason to think otherwise when Noctis came home and polished off an entire sleeve of cookies by dipping them in the chocolate mousse and then calling that a snack. Luna look personally appalled at the display, almost physically trying to separate from him as if all three of them weren’t sitting at the table sharing a pitcher of tea.

“At this rate it’s not poison that’ll get you.” She teased. “I can already feel your heart straining.”

“I had a very traumatizing day Lu!” He protested. “I thought someone put Prompto up to poison me!”

“He would never do that to you. But I might.”

“That hurt.”

“You hog the bed sheets.”

“You leave your clothes all over the floor.”

Luna snorted and leaned back in her chair, “You know if you had any class you’d dip your french fries in that.”

Noctis took a painful looking mouthful of cookie. “That’s weird.”

“I do that.” He interjected.

“See? Prompto has class.”

“No, you’re both just weird.” Noctis finished off the mousse and thankfully refrained from grabbing another. He instead poured another cup of tea and began saturating it with sugar. “Hey Prom, can you do me a favor?”

“I’m with Luna on this one Noct.”

“No not that, I’ve already won.” Luna barked out a laugh, but Noctis refused to acknowledge it. “I put in a work request to start a chocobo stable, can you help me with that?”

Luna’s face fell, “You are not keeping chocobo’s here Noctis!”

“Luna chocobo’s are great! They’re good exercise.”

“No, they smell! They smell and they tear up the grass, think of my sylleblossoms!” She protested. Luna’s hatred of chocobos was legendary. So much so that after an advisor proposed they appear on the one note Luna was so visibly disgusted by the idea the girl thought she had lost her job.

“We’ll keep them away from those, we’ll keep them down the hill, your flowers will be safe.”

Prompto reached over and took Luna’s hand, putting on his best pleading face. “Lunaaaaaa.” He whined, “I love chocobos! Please?”

It probably wasn’t fair. Luna and Noctis were much more easy to sway since they came back. They were careful to not look too pitying, and he wasn’t much for milking it, but if he came home after several weeks abroad to find that either of them had lost fifty pounds and were sick all the time he might be just as easy to take advantage of as they were.

He watched what little resistance Luna had in her crumble. She made a pinched face as she reluctantly said, “Fine. But just know that there is an old Tenebrae law that would allow me to perform regicide if any of my flowers get eaten.”

Two days later he found out she wasn’t joking. Ignis found the nearly half-millenium old law in some old book and passed it on to Noctis who told him about it while Luna was in the shower.

“I always knew that Luna’s pettiness would be my undoing.” He bunched the covers up under his chin.

**Test Results**  
_AST 45 units/L_  
_AST is above normal range and consistent with liver damage._

**Notes**  
_Patient has reported an increase in energy and appetite._

The assignment of building a chocobo farm was harder than Prompto expected. Wiz’s farms were still around, but Wiz himself was not. Instead his apprentice had taken over and he was struggling to keep the few chocobos he did have alive in a war torn area. Prompto petitioned for some of the reparations money from Niflheim’s eastern province to be used to subsidize the farm, but he had no guarantee of getting what he asked for.

Chocobos were a commodity more than a viable mode of transportation before the war, so their decline wasn’t so surprising. Wiz was really the only big name in the business so the state of the farms were a good barometer on their state in the rest of Eos. Prompto did look into Niflheim, but the few “chocobos” he could find were modified and absolutely terrifying. He only looked at the first one before shoving the pictures he received back in the envelopes and tossing them in the trash.

Gladio’s family used to keep chocobos about fifty years before the walls went up. Prompto called him then Iris for information. Iris sent over what few records were left on them. He sifted through old bills of sales trying to find the various farms that had taken them. Several were closed, a few others no longer raised chocobos, and the last one was, of course, Wiz.

“I think you gave me an impossible project.” He moaned when Noctis was half asleep. Prompto tried not to smile as Noctis let out an annoyed sigh.

“I said you needed to stay busy.” He said.

Luna nudged the back of his thigh with her knee. “Shut up. This isn’t a sleepover. I have an appointment in the morning.”

“Getting your hair done isn’t an appointment Lu.” He teased.

She kneed him again. “Shut up.”

Ten weeks until he was off the drugs marked a rare surgence of energy. The worst of it seemed over, the light at the end of the tunnel now brighter. Nothing could get worse. He was sure of it. It’s what got him through organizing contractors to arrive and look at the space, to propose a design. If he played his cards right he could have chocobos to ride when he was feeling better..

“Do you have any breeding age chocobos?” He asked Dan, the new Wiz, over the phone.

“A couple. We’re tryina coax them into layin’, but they’re stressed so it’s takin’ a while.” He said.

“What are they stressed by?”

“The area. Not many people are takin’ ‘em out to ride and there ain’t much green in the around.”

“I see. How would you feel about moving them up here then?”

“Ah dunno about that now. It’s been difficult but ah ain’t at my breaking point yet.”

“You can come with?”

Dan was silent for a long while. “How much?”

“I can get a temporary approval for a year’s salary of twenty thousand gil a month. Room and board will be paid. If anything you can train my guys up here to do it and in a year we’ll see how it works.”

More silence, “Ah’ll have to think about it now. Don’ wanna give up Wiz’s livelihood just yet. But ah’ll call ya when I decide.”

It may not have sounded like much but Prompto had a feeling that things were going in his favor. He felt accomplished, more than what was likely warranted for a bunch of busy-work. 

The next day he passed over the stable plans to Luna who sent them back after lunch with a series of red lines and notes. The stables were too close to the gardens, the wood had to be of the same type the manor was built in, the water trough was better suited to the other side closer to the water source, and she wanted a “stylish fence” to separate the chocobos from her field. And that was the beginning of the long, painful process of getting things approved.

Luna’s input was just one of many it had to go through before they could begin building and the entire project got stalled for weeks when one person refused to play ball. None of this deterred him. Prompto had spent so long just waiting to feel better that finally having something to work on, problems he had to fix, felt like a reprieve and given how few chocobos there were Prompto was starting to look at it as more of a conservation project then a personal one.

Well. It was a personal conservation project.

“I was thinking that we might rent a space on the outskirts and set up a farm there.” He said. Gladio was able to join him and Ignis on their weekly escapades. They’d started a walk around the downtown area window shopping but failed to stop. Eventually they ended up crossing into the ruined outskirts of the city.

“You could set up one here.” Gladio said. “Start up a theme park or something.”

The area wasn’t particularly pretty. Most of the buildings were leveled or otherwise destroyed. Crew had yet to get out to the very edge to clean up the debris so walking around was a little precarious. It wasn’t a bad idea to turn some of the land into a conservation area, but it was too expensive for right then.

Prompto let out an exaggerated gasp. “Or I could make a circus!”

“Your dream will finally come true.” Gladio teased as he kicked a nail embedded in some wood out of Ignis’ path. They probably shouldn't have led Ignis over here, it was practically a deathfield with jagged pieces of buildings exposed and nails littering the floor like legos. But Ignis didn’t seem at all worried or even bothered and Prompto figured it would be downright patronizing to suggest they turn around.

“I always knew you’d rush off to join the circus.” Ignis said, “I’m just surprised it happened this late.”

“I was waiting for the perfect circus.”

Only one of the partially damaged buildings they found was still recognizable as the school it used to bel. It still had half of it’s second story intact and on the bottom were old chalkboards and the administration’s office. They all ended up wandering inside more out of morbid curiosity than anything. It was sad to see the school in such a state, but with the rebuilding well underway and several new schools already finished it was hard for Prompto to drum up much empathy.

It was probably stupid to climb up to the second story, but he did it anyway by finding an old chair and climbing part of the way up. When he didn’t quite make it Gladio reached out and pushed his feet up until his knee hit the incinerated carpet.

“There’s still chalk here.” Ignis yelled from a partially destroyed classroom.

“What are you drawing?” He heard Gladio ask.

“It’s a bear.”

“It looks like a blob.”

“Why don’t you try then Gladiolus?”

There wasn’t much left of the level. He saw a principal’s office with the name tag flung across the room. Several shrapnel holes in the wall and blackened pictures. Under the desk he found a large chunk shrapnel from whatever volley had impacted the building. There were, thankfully, no other unwanted surprises in the building. Most of the city had been evacuated by the time the fighting had reached the area.

“Wow that looks absolutely great Gladio.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“...Dick.”

Down the hall a few desks remained intact. He laid on his back and took a picture of some barely legible writing hidden under the desk. Leyla <3 Dominic. It was a little morbid once he really thought about it. Were Leyla and Dominic still alive? Did they get together? He almost wanted to try and find them to see.

“That looks like an Amenia work.”

“I’m not falling for it again Iggy.”

Prompto rolled out from under the desk and failed to notice the low groan coming from the floor. He stood and stretched his hands up high in the air until his back let out a satisfying crack. A few twists until he was right as rain again. He checked his pictures on the view screen of his camera. The first wasn’t great but the last three would be perfect once he cropped them a bit and did a little editing.

The hole to get back down was back down the hall. Prompto took one step, then another. Paused as the floor gave out a loud groan. He slowly shifted his weight, hoping it was nothing.

Crash! What was once under him was not. His heart jumped up in his throat as his feet touched air. The loss so sudden that he didn’t even have the chance to scream before he was on the first floor again a sharp pain shooting through his stomach making him feel sick. His vision was white then red then white. Water rushing through his ears again. Ringing, ringing, ringing.

“Ah shit!” Gladio yelled. Prompto cracked open his eyes to see Gladio standing over him, poking at his sides. When did that happen? “Iggy call someone!”

“I am!”

“Fuck, I knew we shouldn’t’ve come here!” Prompto saw Gladio reached under him. Saw the wall move and the ceiling get closer. “They coming?”

“Yes. Shouldn’t we take it out?”

“He’ll bleed out if we do that.”

Gladio started moving. Prompto suddenly got an eyeful of the setting sun and the broken remains of the old residential area.

“Noctis must be out of his office.” Ignis said. Images clipped past, sounds merged, but Prompto heard that like a bell in a clear forest.

“No, don’t call him!” He couldn’t hear himself slurring, but he could definitely tell he was. His mouth felt too tired and too big all at once.

“Prompto you’re delirious.”

“No! He’ll freak out!”

He heard Ignis give out an almost cartoonishly long sigh before things went white again.

**Patient Intake Evaluation**  
_Patient suffered a through and through with an inch diameter steel beam in his left abdominal area. Severe lacerations at both entry and exit. Liver suffered minor trauma._

**Surgical Notes**  
_Administered general anesthesia. Removed beam. Both entry and exit stitched. Delivered half pint of blood during surgery. Administration of painkillers to be handled by nursing staff._

**Notes**  
_Patient was on second phase of TB antibiotics. Follow up to insure wound closes properly._

When Prompto woke he faced the not too unfamiliar ceiling of the hospital near the manor. Belle was there, face now uncovered. She almost seemed to smile when she was that he was awake.

“Back here again? You must love it here.”

“Absolutely…” He was weirdly aware of everything that’d happened yet had no real recollection or solid memory of the events. “What’s the verdict?”

“Liver trauma. Had a steel beam go completely through your abdomen. We got it out, and we’re keeping you on the antibiotics since you’re almost done with the treatment. His Majesty’s been waiting for you.”

“Really?”

“Mmhm. Her Majesty kept falling asleep so we had to send her back up to her room.”

“It’s that late?”

“It did take a while to get you stitched up. We can send him in if you want?”

He sighed, “Sure.”

“You don’t sound sure.”

“Noct is… he freaks out.”

“I figured. Heard him yelling when I clocked in.”

“Great.” He groaned, “He’s going to freak out either way so might as well get this over with.”

Belle left and a few moments later in came Noctis. Time certainly had passed. Noctis’ eyes were baggy and tear stained and his pale, shaky hands wrapped around Prompto’s arms as he buried his face in his shoulders.

“You can’t keep doing this to me Prom.” Noctis’ voice shook, barely managing to string together all the syllables clearly. He shook and shook like he was struggling to hold up the weight of his panic..

“It was an accident Noct.”

Noctis’ grip tightened just a bit. His tears only got heavier until he was opening sobbing in Prompto’s gown. He reached up and gently rubbed Noctis’ side until his shaking dissipated and his tears dried up. When Noctis pulled back he looked worse off, eyes now more red and face more sunken. His voice cracked as he spoke.

“What were you doing out there Prom?”

“Just exploring.” He felt drained from Noctis’ crying, but he would feel guilty sending Noctis away without talking to him.

“Prom do you know how dangerous that area is?”

“Well now I do.”

“This isn’t funny Prom!”

“I’m not saying it is. I wouldn’t have gone if I knew I was going to get wasted by some debris.”

Noctis gave a pathetic sounding sniff. “Fuck. I can’t believe this.”

A pause, “Who were you yelling at Noct?”

“Hm?”

“Belle said you were yelling at someone. Who was it?”

Noctis looked down at his shoes, “I lost my temper at Ignis…”

“Oh how the turntables turn.”

“You don’t need to joke so much Prom.”

“Why not? No one else here will.” He collapsed onto his bed. “Look it sucks Noct, but I don’t want to sit in this bed and bemoan my poor life choices.”

Noctis sighed, “I can’t believe you. You go around scaring me shitless and then make jokes the second you wake up.”

“It keeps the relationship fresh.”

“You could keep it fresh by not nearly dying every few months.”

He shrugged, “How’s Luna?”

“She went back to the room to sleep. I shoulda gone with her. I think she was the only thing keeping me from really freaking out.”

“Did you yell after she left?”

“Yeah…”

“Noct.” He couldn’t stop himself from chuckling even though it hurt just a bit, “Man what am I going to do with you?”

“I could say the same to you.”

Prompto had trouble keeping his eyes open soon after thatwhich Noctis thankfully took as the time to leave so he could rest. He ran a hand trough Prompto’s hair before finally leaving and Prompto felt himself fall back into restfulness.

Luna visited him early in the morning just a little after he woke up. She walked in with an exasperated smile. “You’re such a troublemaker.”

“It’s part of my charm.” Now well rested this conversation felt easier.

Luna ran a hand through his hair as she spoke. “I almost feel like you’ve made it your goal in life to give me a heart attack.”

“I just love it when you worry about me.”

“Oh this is for attention? I should just ignore you when you do this then.” Her hand cupped his cheek. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got stabbed.”

She laughed, “I wonder why. Do you want me to bring down a few games for you before I go into my meeting?”

“Nah, I don’t plan on staying long.”

“Good. You have work to do with that chocobo farm of yours. The contractor left the estimates and I went through them for you.”

“What’s the verdict?”

“Needs more work.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead, “I have to go to a meeting. I’ll be back later.”

An hour later he got a surprise visit from Gladio who carried in a rather sizable bouquet filled with an ugly mix of every flower ever grown.

“You know you didn’t do anything right?” Prompto said before Gladio could really say anything.

“Yeah, but it was still a shitty situation that I should’ve probably called off. We had no reason to be out there anyway.” He set the flowers down on the side table.

“It was an accident Gladio.”

“Yeah, well, tell Noct that.”

Gladio looked stressed, like he hadn’t slept the night and was running on coffee and determination.

“I will. Look I’m sorry about him, did you guys call him?”

“Of course we did, right after the ambulance.”

“Told ya not to. It’s the wait that gets to him.”

Gladio let out a humored sigh and shook his head, “Just get better I’ll deal with the princess.”

Ignis came back in the afternoon. He didn’t bring any flowers but did have a fairly large box of chocolates. Those went next to the flowers.

“How are you feeling?” He asked gently. Prompto couldn’t get a good barometer on his mood with the sunglasses and the scars, but his lips were pulled back tightly.

“I’m fine. I’ll be out soon, this isn’t the worst thing to happen to me you know.”

“I am aware. Sorry that I-”

“Iggy don’t. Come on everyone’s treating this like I’m a kid who played in traffic.”

Ignis rubbed at the side of his head, “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I know, and I know Noct gave you an earful last night. But it’s not your fault Iggy. Noct’s just being Noct about it.”

Finally Ignis cracked a smile. “Like always. I have to go, feel better alright?”

Ignis left and Prompto spent another night in the hospital under observation. He sat quietly, taking visitors and sleeping the next day, but by the third day he moaned and groaned until they discharged him. They sent him back with a boatload of prescription painkillers and he made the short journey back to the shared suite. He found the files Luna spoke about and began flipping through them to pass the time.

The first was the approval for a yearly maintenance fee for the stables. It wasn’t all that he’d asked for, but it was close to what he’d expected. In a few years he could petition for more if he managed to find chocobos and build the stables. Luna had circled the amount and wrote a little ‘good job’ next to it.

The other paper was the building plans that Luna had also looked through. She went light on the red lining. The newest design featured white, polished wood and a purple pattern on the trimming. Prompto thought it was useless to keep chocobos in a white building, but Luna didn’t put any notes on the color so he decided to leave it.

The newer building was bigger and had an upper storage area for feed and equipment. The trough had been moved and redesigned so that it curved around the building and left a single definitive entrance. Luna noted that she liked that but Prompto hated the idea of keeping the chocobos cooped up like that and it would lead to a mess when one inevitably tried to clear the trough anyway. He made a note of that and noted how uncomfortable it would be to have the top story only accessible by ladder then spent the rest of the day resting.

Two weeks passed. One week of antibiotics left to go. Prompto almost wanted to push the pills aside when he woke up and realized that was all that was left. Getting off the pills felt more and more like an itch he needed to scratch then and there, but he took them like he was supposed to and tried to focus on getting towards the end.

Like most days his morning went by slowly. Noctis helped him get changed before he had to leave and Luna peppered kisses on his forehead as she waited for the car to take her to a meeting. Recovery was slow, but he was getting there.

After midday Dan called him. It was a call he wasn’t exactly expecting and felt a little unprepared for.

“Ah’ve been thinkin’ about your proposition.” He started out saying. “And Ah think Ah’d be amenable to movin’ on up to Tenebrae. But Ah have a few requests.”

Prompto tried not to let his heart beat too fast. He nearly hurt himself sitting up as if that would help the conversation. “Yeah sure.”

“Ah want a guarantee that ya’ll’re gonna take care of ‘em even after ah’m gone.”

“Of course.”

“And Ah want to get an image of their enclosure before Ah give ‘em away.”

“Sure.”

“And finally, Ah want a guarantee that ya’ll work to bring their populations back.”

Yes. “I can guarantee that.”

“Good. Ah’m happy to hear it. When will you be ready.”

“In about a month or so. We have to finalize the stables and build them.”

“Awright then, you got mah number.”

Victory. Prompto almost cheered when Dan hung up. He immediately pushed the revisions back to the contractor.

Two days later and he got them back one evening. The trough was moved further away from the stables and the structure was a bit larger to fit in a short, spiral staircase. Luna’s only note was that the fence didn’t seem big enough which she admitted to being complete pettiness when she arrived back.

“I’m going to mourn the loss of that space.” She said wistfully as she dramatically laid back on the couch. “I loved the grass that was there. Now it’ll be covered in chocobo shit.”

“You’re such a drama queen Lu.” Noctis complained.

“Oh ho ho, I don’t want to hear it from you!” She flung a pillow at his head which he let connect with his shoulder then fall to the floor. “I swear the world’s ending every time you get a sinus infection.”

Prompto burst out laughing at the memory of Noctis’ pitiful, week-long whining which made Noctis blush and pout. “Fine. We’re both equally drama queens.”

“Honestly I’m just proud that you both have resisted beheading wait staff when they get an order wrong.” He said.

“It has been difficult to resist the temptation.” Luna said, but he couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

Prompto sat at the couch and pulled her feet in his lap. “I don’t think you’re dramatic Luna. Not as much as Noct.”

“Thank you Prompto.”

“I will not be ganged up on by the blond brigade!” Luna made a rude gesture with her hand which made Noctis snort.

Construction began the last day of his antibiotics. He swallowed the cocktail of pills as the crew began laying out poles and marking up the area. Luna propped her chin on the crown of his head as they watched the work begin. In the room Noctis let out a loud snore and turned over.

“You know. It might not look too bad.” She said. Her hand ghosted over his slowly healing wound. “I’m almost excited to see how it’ll look.”

“Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> If I had more time I would've edited it a bit better so as always please let me know if there is anything that just looks weird.


End file.
